With the recent braces on the lower teeth completing the set, soft foods have become a hot menu item around here, and this black bean stew is something soft that I made with leftover roast chicken and the rest of the jar of roasted red peppers from Caper Vinaigrette. I always feel proud of myself when I can manage to use ingredients that are leftover from another recipe, so I had a good feeling about this. I decided to call it stew because it seemed too thick to be soup, but does anyone really know where exactly the line is drawn between soup and stew? If soup is more your style, it's fine with me if you add an extra cup of chicken stock and call it soup. Whatever you call it, if you happen to have new braces, this will be soft and comforting.

Chop onion, and saute in olive oil if desired, or put raw onion in crockpot. Empty black beans into a colander placed in the sink and rinse until no more foam appears. (Don't skip this step, which removes some of the salt and makes the beans much easier to digest.) Let beans drain slightly, then add to crockpot. Drain jar of red pepper and chop into small pieces and add to crockpot, along with the diced tomatoes and juice.

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Anonymous, dried cilantro is never used as a substitute for fresh cilantro, but it's a good ingredient for long cooking dishes with lots of liquid. I like to use it in soups because I enjoy the subtle undertones of cilantro it gives to the broth. It's much different than the flavor that fresh cilantro adds, in my opinion. If you don't have the dried cilantro though, you could make this without it.

Italian Dish, hope so! I got the top braces first because my top teeth were shaped in too narrow of an arch, and I admit, they look a lot better already in 7 months!

Anonymous, yes I did use that much, but I love cumin. Feel free to use less if you want, or maybe add half and then taste later and see if you want more. I would also definitely use less for stovetop cooking, as I said.

Great idea for a dish! Is the dried cilantro the actual leaves dried as opposed to being cilantro seed (i.e., coriander)? I haven't noticed dried cilantro at the store, but probably I just haven't looked. I love both cilantro and coriander.

Lulu, yes the dried cilantro is the dried cilantro leaf, not coriander. It's not anything like fresh cilantro, but I think it adds a lovely cilantro undertone to long-cooked soups. I buy it at Penzeys if you can't find it in the store.

I've never used roasted red peppers from a jar. Are they as good as when you roast them yourself? Do they have a pickled taste at all? Are they more salty? This looks really wonderful, can't wait to try it this week. This is my first time to post, but I've been watching your blog for a long time. Thanks for all the recipes!!!

GCL, definitely the freshly roasted peppers are better than the ones from a jar, but they're pretty good. They don't really have a pickled or salty taste, they must be packed in water. I love them as a convenience product. Glad you've been enjoying the blog!

Elana and Amber and Tom, If I was using dried beans, I'd cook them first on the stove and then use the cooked beans in this, because when you cook beans with tomatoes they are very unpredictable in the cooking time.

TW, thanks. I do surprise myself sometimes with these attempt at being frugal!

Wow, I think you wrote this recipe especially for me.. cumin, black beans, chicken and cilantro..right up my alley. I made this today, followed your instructions exactly and found it to be perfect. Hubby had his with a little shredded cheddar over the top, I had it without and didn't feel like I was missing a thing! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

This was a great recipe and I found it through a Google search this morning. I made the stovetop version and used a mixture of the frozen cilantro (for the dried) and fresh. I roasted both the red and chili peppers and used 3/4 of a rotisserie chicken (saved 1 breast). Topped it with a little 3-cheese mix and a dollop of yogurt. You know, as I am typing, I realize that I forgot to add the oregano but it tasted fine. The commentary was "this is as good as what you get in a restaurant" so thank you for posting. :-)

I made this stew vegetarian by using vegetable stock and substituting "fake" Quorn chicken instead. It was SO delicious and excellent with the Spicy Mexican coleslaw (made with Veganaise instead of mayo). Thanks!

This was great! Lots of flavor. It was good enough to make my husband to stop complaining about our diet.haha. He had 3 bowls and is looking forward to leftovers tomorrow. Def. a keeper. (and I've never been one for black beans - so that says something)

Yummy! Had this tonight. Thrilled that I have 4 servings to put in the freezer. Unfortunately I was almost out of cumin so it got about half of what it needed. Also, my husband isn't the cilantro fan that we are so I cut the fresh portion in half. While I was eating it I started wondering if shrimp would make another great addition. What do you think? I think I might try it next time.

I know I'm a little late to the party here, but I just put this in the crockpot for tonight, and I couldn't be more excited! I just wanted to give you a heads up that your crockpot instructions never mention putting in the diced tomatoes. It's obviously not a big deal, but I thought I would mention it, as I almost neglected to put them in before looking over the ingredient list once more. Other readers may have experienced something similar.

Thank you for all that you do! My wife and I love the recipes on your blog! We made the mujadarra the the other day, and I honestly wondered if I had died and gone to heaven.

I made this recipe yesterday and my husband loved it.....and so did I. It smelled so good when I arrived home after work and walked in the house. I really need to use my crock-pot more often.....because it is such a treat to come home and have a meal ready to eat.

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